The Shropshire mill was the first to use iron girders in its construction

One of the buildings on the list is Ditherington Mill in Shrewsbury, which has been derelict for the past 10 years.

Built in 1796 as a flax mill, it was the first iron framed building in the world and the forerunner of the modern skyscraper. The mill was also one of the largest factories of its day.

Mr Yates said: "This is a building of global importance ... this is the grandmother of every skyscraper in every city.

"While this is now sleepy old Shropshire, you have to think back 200 years to the Georgian industrial revolution when this was the Silicon Valley of the world."

Planning wrangles and lack of money have meant that the developers who own the mill have been unable to do anything with it. Simon Beedle, property consultant said: ""We simply didn't have an economic use for the building."

But the future for the Ditherington Mill now looks brighter with plans in the pipeline to convert it into shops, offices, an arts centre and gallery.

Different categories

Ditherington Mill may be turned into an art gallery

Buildings are categorised in the register by "hard hat" symbols denoting the degree to which they are under threat.

The scale ranges from six hard hats down to one, which means that a repair scheme is in progress and a use identified.

Some of the many other buildings under threat include: Astley Castle, a moated medieval manor house in Warwickshire; Dalton Pumping Station near Durham; Paston Barn in Norfolk; Pleasely Colliery, a former coal mine in Derbyshire; the conservatory at Wentworth Castle, South Yorkshire; and Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, London.

English Heritage has also announced that next month it will publish a Monuments at Risk report, which is the result of a four-year study into the state of England's archaeology.

It hopes that both the reports will help to make public the true state of England's heritage.